"We're not critics. We're professional fan-girls." --- This blog is dedicated to movies and the entertainment industry. We use random selection to bring into light the best and worst of Netflix and off various columns highlighting new movies as well.

Henry McCarthy has been called back to his home town in
order to give a commencement speech to the high school graduating class. As a
best-selling author, he has enough clout to warrant the honor. When he gets
back home, he finds a lot of his old teenage issues creeping up on him;
bullying, unrequited love and the ire of a great many people.

If I were to judge “Stay Cool” by the cover, I would write
it off as just another romantic comedy that wishes it was from the 90’s. Even
just the existence of some of the starring actors in the movie would lead me to
the same conclusion. I’m glad I don’t judge movies like that, though, because I
thought this film was adorable.

I will grant that there were some very over-the-top
characters and that it went out of its way to follow a recipe the majority of
the time, but I don’t think it was really a bad thing in this case. When the
Polish brothers decided to go with a PG-13 rating, I think they made a very
good choice. Yes, in the R-rated version there would have been more sex and
drugs to draw in viewers, but it would have compromised the quality of the
film. At the current rating it forced the audience to focus on the story, which
was highly relatable. At first, I didn’t enjoy it but it got better and better as
the movie went on. The ending was fantastic and semi-unexpected. It wasn’t an
absolutely original idea, but it was good none-the-less.

Sean Astin’s character, Big Girl, was exaggerated,
ridiculous and a little hard to believe… however, I’ve had friends that look and
act almost exactly like that. If those people weren’t in my life, I would
likely find the part to be highly stereotypical and almost offensive. The other
characters did pretty well in their parts, which is a big deal for me to say
because the only movie I’ve ever enjoyed Winona Ryder in was Girl, Interrupted.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed a few of her films but it was almost always in
spite of her.

Normally I start a blog with a basic synopsis of how the
movie begins. “Love Actually” doesn’t have a single clear beginning. In fact,
the film has ten different beginnings. Although it isn’t technically an
anthology, “Love Actually” takes ten different stories and ties them together
in the end. Not unlike some movies that followed it like: “New York, I Love You”
or “He’s Just Not That Into You.”

Since this movie came out I’ve heard nothing but good
things. Critics and audience members both seemed to love it, but I resisted. I
don’t mind the occasional romance story, but I tend to like it more with the
added plotline involving magic, explosions, assassins, horror, or just
generally dragons of some sort – literal or figurative. The way this film was
portrayed to me had me believing it was serious and heavily on the realistic
side. In other words, I completely got the wrong idea. It’s actually more of a
romantic comedy and, though it does have some basis in reality, it’s not stuck
on a serious note. Evidence of it has been removed from the film for the most
part, but one of the characters is even supposed to be an angel; an actual heaven-born
angel. That piece of trivia makes all the difference to me.

When I was a young child, I was really sick and not able to
do too much. My mother would bring home videos from a store where they sold the
tapes 10 for $10. I fell in love with the stories that helped me escape
reality. It’s probably why I don’t tend to go for heavy dramas or serious
romances.

I digress. “Love Actually” was a lot more simple and
relatable than I was led to believe. However, there was a lot of fluff and a
lot of characters. If you just glance over the credits I listed above, you’ll
see a LOT of BIG, familiar names. That’s because there were a lot of main
characters. In fact, I’m still having trouble remembering what name goes to
what character. I can’t tell you whether or not that’ll be a problem for you,
but I can tell you I couldn’t put a name to a face but I still enjoyed the
stories and the way they twisted together.

Richard Curtis pulled off a huge success for his first step
into directing and, I hate the term, he raised the bar for himself. I haven’t
seen his other two directions, but my expectations will be very high when I do.

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 3.8/5

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 63%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 73%

Trust-the-Dice Score – 4/5

P.S. Netflix gave me the following movies in the “more like
this” section of screen for “Love Actually”: “New York, I Love You,” “I Don’t
Know How She Does It,” “Mona Lisa Smile,” “Bachelorette,” “The Rebound,” “What
to Expect When You’re Expecting,” “She’s All That,” “The Kids Are All Right.”
Personally, I think their database is a little screwed because I’ve seen 6/8 of
those movies and the only one that actually belongs in that “more like this”
category is “New York, I Love You.”

Chris is a police officer hopeful who’s trying to deal with
a relatively low-caste life in the early 80’s. Before he can see his dreams
realizes, however, his father is fired and he loses his chance to join the
police agency, leading him trying to find a job as a security guard. Shortly
after working for the new company, he learns that security involving millions
of dollars is incredibly lax and is faced with great temptation.

This movie was based on a true story, which leads me to the
conclusion that not all true stories are interesting enough to make it into the
entertainment industry. The movie was dull. When it comes down to it, I have no
problem with biographies or documentaries, I just don’t want to go for what I
think is fiction and find myself faced with a word-by-word reenactment.

Despite the overly realistic and boring plot, the script
itself also kind of sucked. All the actors were fine, great even, but they were
too damn good for the movie. No amount of guilty glances from Hemsworth,
strung-out twitching from Angarano or toned down thoughtfulness from Johnson
could do anything for the terribly written script.

I can pick any one of the actors involved in this movie and
find a better film of theirs to watch.